Re: Colt Delta Elite: now or later?
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: LFOD1776</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I think the new Delta Elite is only available in stainless. I don't understand why your gunsmith would need to get involved, they shoot great out of the box. For some reason mine (and countless thousands of others) have failed to ... fail, as widely rumored. </div></div>
Ditto that for my experience as well. I've been shooting this cartridge, in some envelope, since the very late 1980s.
A properly set-up Delta Elite, or any other 10mm 1911, will run just fine. Even box stock 10mms have run for thousands of rounds with no issues. All makers of autoloaders, regardless of caliber, have let their share of "lemons" out the factory door.
That said, much of the basis for the old "10mm-breaks-guns" myth stems from Colt's first run of Deltas in 1987. On those early ones, after several thousand rounds of hot 10mm ammo, a small crack developed in the frame on that "bridge" piece of metal just above the slide stop notch. Colt simply removed it and the so-called "cracked frame" problem disappeared, except, apparently, in the minds of late 80s gun rag writers. In fact, that "fix" became a standard design change for Colt for all its subsequent 1911 models, 10mm, .45acp or otherwise.
Here's a link to a write-up I did on my Delta, customized by Vic Tibbets, after putting about 4500-rds through it:
www.bren-ten.com/agtman/id10.html
Obligatory pic ...
If I were buying another Delta, I'd get a stainless one (which, IIRC, is the only finish available on Colt's new "limited run" Deltas) and keep it pretty much stock. Instead, the cash in my wallet itching for something in 10mm will likely be committed to a new pistol on the event horizon:
<span style="font-weight: bold">Vltor's Bren-Ten re-do, the "Fortis"</span>
Latest word is that Vltor plans to release the Fortis following the <span style="font-weight: bold">2010</span> SHOT Show. They'll be available in 10mm and .45acp. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if Vltor later offers a factory .40S&W "drop-in" barrel for the 10mm Fortis, giving you two calibers to shoot in one gun, similar to what you can do now with the 10mm Glocks.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Back in the Day: Old School Bren Ten</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">In the '80s, the 10mm was a cartridge you had to dress properly for </span>